X2 Pro - File format mismatch, audio unavailable etc.

[WarpObscura]

Hello, everyone. I come to this board with four issues.

1. "File format mismatch" when attempting to import certain codec types. These are h.264 with mp3 in mp4 containers, as well as h.264 with aac in mp4 and mov containers.
2. Audio track in certain files do not play. These files are using ac3 or mp3 audio in avi containers. Note that importing audio files manually still works; it is just that audio embedded in a video file does not. Trying to split audio still gives silence.
3. I recall in VS 11 Plus, when you clicked on the project timeline, the audio at that point would play. If you dragged the timeline... line-thing, then the audio would play for as long as it was dragged. However, this feature seems to be missing in X2 Pro. Is there a problem with my installation or was it deliberately omitted?
4. I cannot encode my audio with LAME MP3 when creating the final product. Actually, this was an issue back when I was using 11 Plus, but I thought I could live with it. However, with these other issues coming up, I felt that it was necessary for me to seek advice on this.

The community's help will be much appreciated, since I would rather not have to waste space converting files into usable formats and demuxing audio if the originals can be used. Thank you.

[2Dogs]

3. I recall in VS 11 Plus, when you clicked on the project timeline, the audio at that point would play. If you dragged the timeline... line-thing, then the audio would play for as long as it was dragged. However, this feature seems to be missing in X2 Pro. Is there a problem with my installation or was it deliberately omitted?

This is just a simple change in the default setting in X2 as compared with VS11.

Hit F6 and then the "Edit" tab.

Check the box to the left of "Enable audio while scrubbing"

I for one am happy to see this default value changed. Although it may be useful in certain situations, in my experience it slows down performance when working with large clips - say when cutting out commercials from a recorded TV show - and I also find it intensely irritating!

[Black Lab]

1. If you do a search of the forum you will find that many people have problems with MPEG-4 files. These were meant to be distribution and viewing formats, not editing. You may try converting them with a third party app, then bring them into VS for editing.

2. Some MP3 file types cause VS to choke, the LAME codec in particular. Converting the audio to LPCM is usually the cure. I use Audacity for the task. FWIW, MP3s produced by iTunes work fine in VS.

3. Not sure what you mean on this one.

4. See #2.

[WarpObscura]

@2Dogs: Got it! Thanks. As a fan music video maker, I found it very useful for synchronising the video and audio.

@Black Lab: 1. Well, that works, but I was hoping to avoid wasting space on having duplicate copies of the same file. Can't win them all...

2. and 4. Actually, it was not a matter of crashing but of the MP3 audio not playing.

3. 2Dogs gave me my answer.

Now, I have another question... Wanting to find a way to "flip horizontal", I did a search on this forum and found Stefan Burger's FXBench, but it does not detect my U/CVS X2 Pro as a product and so the FXBench video filter does not show up. Is FXBench incompatible with X2 Pro (yet), or should I reinstall FXBench?

[2Dogs]

@2Dogs: Got it! Thanks. As a fan music video maker, I found it very useful for synchronising the video and audio.

Yes it is useful for that sort of thing - but most of the time I prefer it to be off. I suspect in the first VS to feature it, the default was "on" just to fanfare the feature and make users aware of it.

Now, I have another question... Wanting to find a way to "flip horizontal", I did a search on this forum and found Stefan Burger's FXBench, but it does not detect my U/CVS X2 Pro as a product and so the FXBench video filter does not show up. Is FXBench incompatible with X2 Pro (yet), or should I reinstall FXBench?

As far as I know, FX Bench doesn't detect VS as such - you have to add the Burger stuff into the Ulead vfx_plug folder. The only hitch I've found with the Burger effects is that they can render a little slowly - but that's a very small price to pay for such great added functionality, which of course is completely free. Stefan must be a great bloke!